Companions to the End
by The Warmongers of Simora
Summary: So Eren often lashed out at Mikasa because she was so much stronger than him, and because she was protecting him when he should have been protecting her. But what if he understood WHY Mikasa was the way she was? What if he accepted this as a part of who Mikasa was, and was kinder to her as a result? How would this affect the events of Attack on Titan?
1. Chapter 1

**Companions to the End Chapter 1**

 **Mid-Summer, 850 – The graduation of the 104** **th** **Cadets**

It was finally time.

After three gruelling years of training, they had finally graduated. This would be their last night as cadets, since tomorrow they would be shipped out to Trost to decide which of the three Regiments that they'd be committing their lives to: Scouting Regiment, Garrison, or the Military Police.

To celebrate surviving the intensive training, they were holding a small party, where for once in the last three years, the higher ups were being somewhat lax with their rations: allowing the Cadets to drink their fill and eat their weight in food for what could be the last time in their lives before giving their lives in the fight against the Titans.

The party was happening in a small bar near the training centre where they spent the last three years, and they were having a grand old time, drinking away their sorrow at the fact that they were most likely going to die.

Or at least most of them were.

In one of the small booths in the bar, all the way in the far corner from the entrance, sat three cadets who weren't really interested in partying and drinking. There was a blonde, a brunet, and a dark haired in the trio, conversing amongst themselves.

This was the trio of Armin, Eren, and Mikasa; survivors of Shiganshina and were the best of friends.

Eren was the strong-headed one of the group, prone to acting before thinking and who acts with an overwhelming passion. Despite being very prone to bursts of anger, Eren is a caring soul at heart, even if it is hard to see underneath his berserker-like-rage. Ever since Eren lost his mother at the hands of the Smiling Titan, he swore to wipe every last one of them out, or die trying. However, he does have another reason for wanting to wipe the Titans out, and that was for his friends.

He wanted the world to be explorable to humans again, without having to live in fear. He wanted Mikasa, the person who always watched his back and made sure he was ok, even if it pissed him off to no end, to be able to live a quiet life in a cottage, just like she had before those bastard slave-traders ruined her life. Despite the fact she babied him constantly, Eren had come to accept that this was just because she cared about him, and that this was her way of expressing it. He would get annoyed at her and shout at her from time-to-time, but they have both reached a point of understanding that it doesn't actually mean anything. Eren was the 5th best Cadet in the 104th, something that he was very proud of.

Mikasa was the mother-hen of the trio, looking out for Eren and Armin to make sure that they were ok. If anyone so much as looked at them wrong, she'd be there to introduce them to the ground before they could even realise how badly they messed up. While she will never admit it, she will do this to Eren much more than Armin, not because she didn't care for Armin, but because she had been harbouring feelings for Eren ever since he offered her the red scarf that she still wears to this day: a symbol of the home that Eren had become.

She was an absolute beast, being the muscle of the group. While Eren was the one who started fights, Mikasa was the one who finished them, being able to throw people who weighed twice as much as her as if they were little more than sacks of potatoes. This, and her natural talent at seemingly everything she does, made her the best Cadet in the 104th, outperforming everyone else by a long shot.

Armin was the brains, he was able to see reason when the others were willing to throw it to the wind, preferring to use their fists. However, despite being very timid and shy, he was very capable of being as cruel and manipulative as the situation demands if it means looking after his friends. Before they became Cadets, the trio had to survive on next to no food for up to two years, and they didn't even have the essentials needed to survive half the time. If it weren't for Armin's ability to manipulate and deceive people, they might not have survived long enough to get to cadet training.

Armin is also a master of opportunity, taking advantage of events that happen on the fly, and is capable of making sure he and his companions are better off. As a matter of fact, Jean (someone that has been feuding with Eren since they became Cadets and has endlessly harassed Mikasa for a date) has been suffering from a case of disappearing rations for over a year now, while Eren and Mikasa have each been receiving an extra half-loaf of bread for about the same amount of time (which Jean has yet to realise). While he didn't make the top ten in the cadets, he was easily the smartest cadet in the 104th, clearly destined for a role as a scientist of strategist in one of the Regiments.

While these three were conversing, and reminiscing of their childhood, a few of the other cadets had begun to come over. While the Shiganshina trio had mostly stuck together throughout their cadet days, they did branch out and make new friends in the cadets.

Amongst these were the duo of Reiner and Bertholdt, a pair that stuck together much like the Shiganshina trio did. Reiner was very combat oriented, always going on about being a true 'Soldier', and he naturally hit it off with Eren. Bertholdt on the other-hand, while he was still very skilled at using the ODM (Omni-Directional-Manoeuvre) Gear, was much more comfortable with the bookwork they had to do, making him a natural friend of Armin's.

Mikasa on the other-hand, much to the surprise of the others, got along with the bottomless pits called Connie and Sasha. She found that they were useful to her as scapegoats for when Eren got into trouble, and while she may not admit it out-loud, to ANYONE (not even Eren can know), she found them genuinely funny. She was able to get them to go along with it because she'd repay them with food afterwards.

They also hung out with the duo of Jean and Marco, despite the fact that they didn't really get along with Jean (Marco, on the other hand, was an absolute delight).

There was another duo that commonly hung out with the Shiganshina trio, and that was Ymir and Krista. These two weren't the most talkative people they knew, and while they did hang out occasionally, they seemed to prefer hanging out with each other, which they had no issue with.

The most surprising addition to their group was the reclusive, and extremely dangerous Annie. At first, she avoided literally everyone like they had the plague. But then Eren started training with her, admitting that she was not only the better fighter but someone he admired for their strength (this led to some coldness from Mikasa until she realised she was someone else that he, somewhat begrudgingly, admired her strength as well). While unaffected at first, she eventually started briefly interacting with the trio and actually started getting along with them. Her and Eren were always talking about different styles, her and Mikasa were actually able to mutually understand one another and talk about the stress that was dealing with dozens of egotistical, testosterone filled teenage boys harassing them.

The one she got along with the most was surprisingly Armin, despite how timid he was. She respected his drive to survive and protect those he cared about, and that even though he can't do anything physically, he still finds a way to help them (she had figured out what he had done to Jean a long time, but said nothing). That, and the fact that he was just so _friendly_. She had never interacted with someone who was so easy to talk to and be with, so she didn't really know what to do to reciprocate it. However, when she saw a few cadets trying to attack him when Eren and Mikasa were elsewhere, she found a way to reciprocate his kindness. So, from then on, the two were usually together.

At the party, Annie, Marco, and Bertholdt had decided to sit with the reclusive trio, with Marco and Bertholdt listening intently to the stories of Shiganshina while Annie sat very closely to Armin. Krista and Ymir had left the party a while ago, more interested in heading back to the barracks than partying. Reiner was busy trying to flirt with some of the girl cadets at the bar, Connie and Sasha were **devouring** everything they could get their hands on, and Jean was busy storming up to the table.

Wait a minute…

"Mikasa! Can I have a word?" Jean practically bellowed, but it didn't seem as loud as he intended with the noise of the drunk cadets drowning him out.

Now on edge, Eren stood up, ready to confront Jean. "Now listen here, Horse-Face! Talk to her like that again and I'll…" Eren began before Mikasa put her hand up.

"It's fine Eren, he just wants a word. If he tries anything, I'll simply come back." Mikasa stated in a monotone manner, which she often would do when dealing with Jean.

Eren seemed conflicted for a moment, debating whether it would be worth it trying to start an argument or not. Eventually deciding that Mikasa of all people could handle herself, and that if Jean did do anything he could jump in, he nodded to Mikasa and sat back down, continuing the story he was previously telling,

Mikasa excused herself and began to follow Jean outside the bar, not impressed with being dragged away from Eren. When they got outside, Jean turned to Mikasa with a look of exasperation on his face.

"I don't get it, I just don't get it. Why are you wasting your time when we barely have any of it left as it is?" He ground out, seeming to be genuinely confused about whatever it was he was going on about.

At this, Mikasa raised an eyebrow. "What don't you get? The drinking or the feast?"

"Eren! That egotistical twat! I don't get what someone like you, a literal goddess, sees in someone like him, a suicidal idiot!" Jean blurted out, and with those words Mikasa caught a whiff of his breath; he had been drinking, a lot.

"Why shouldn't I hang out with him? He doesn't harass me every other day." Mikasa ground out, now very agitated because of Jean.

"I don't mean hang out as a friend, but romantically. Everyone else might not see it, but I do. You practically follow him around like a dog, and he doesn't even deserve it. You should be with someone like me, we'd be the perfect couple. What does he have that I don't?" Jean spluttered, the alcohol clearly beginning to affect him.

This was when Mikasa started to get angry. "I don't know what you're talking about, but if that were the case, I'd pick him over you because he doesn't treat me like a piece of meat. While he does get angry at me, he doesn't do it to put me down, but because that's just how he is. And you may think of him as a jerk, but I happen to think he's very loyal and would stand up for me no matter what, just like he did a minute ago."

After this statement, she turned to go back to the bar, but as she went to enter, she touched her scarf, and stopped herself from entering to say one last thing.

"When we were kids, my parents were slaughtered in front of me and I was kidnapped. If they had gotten away with me, I'd be nothing more than a sex-slave right now. Eren came and saved me, and I've promised myself that I'd do whatever it takes to repay him for that. You may not like him, but he's my hero, my friend, and most importantly, my home. He deserves my attention more than you ever will."

Having gotten that off her chest, she went back into the bar to enjoy these last few peaceful moments with Eren and Armin, because she didn't know what would happen to them after tomorrow. But she could hope for the best, so with her head held by, she returned to those she held closest to her heart.


	2. Chapter 2

**Companions to the End Chapter 2**

 **Mid-Summer, 850 – The day after the Graduation Party, outside the barracks**

Annie wasn't looking forward to this. Not at all.

She was meeting up with Reiner and Bertholdt to discuss their plan to destroy the Wall surrounding the Trost district. They were planning to do the same thing there as they did in Shiganshina nearly five years ago.

And Annie wanted no part of it.

Back then, she did it because she was following orders, orders that would save her father and herself from public rejection and ridicule. But even back then, she only did it because she didn't know what else to do. She just followed orders and killed when they told her to kill. She didn't have any friends, and the only person she trusted was her father, a person who practically fashioned her into a weapon for his own use.

But now, now she had friends. She had people who she trusted, people who thought she was a good person, people who looked up to her. She had Eren, someone who admired her fighting skill and techniques, and who was always badgering her for lessons (not that she really minded, she just pretended to not give a damn). She had Mikasa, a pseudo-rival and someone who would relate to the struggles of being hounded by endless hormone driven teenage boys (they've had countless discussions on how annoying they are, the closest thing that either of them have had to girl time). And most importantly, she had Armin. Armin was such an odd individual to Annie, being cruel to outsiders yet overly friendly to the point of being almost child-like to friends. Annie was fascinated by him, and she wanted to figure him out. Afterall, what kind of person could look her in the eye and tell her they thought she was a 'good person' while genuinely meaning it. She had people she genuinely cared for and wanted to hang out with.

And now she had to plan how she was going to help get them killed.

Sighing in a depressed manner, she approached Reiner and Bertholdt in the, who seemed to have already started without her.

Again.

"Glad to see you were patient enough to wait for me before starting. I mean, it's not as if I'm a big part of whatever it is you're planning. We're only terrorists to these people." Annie shouted out, not caring that this was supposed to be a secret meeting.

Jumping up from where they were sitting, Reiner whisper-shouted, "Keep your voice down! We don't want to get caught, do we?"

Rolling her eyes at Reiner, she sat down on a log near their predetermined meeting spot. They had decided on this spot years ago when they first became cadets, so they could discuss their plans for destroying the Eldians. But while it was once a place where they could escape and be themselves, to Annie, it was nothing more than a reminder that she was a murderer.

Looking up at Reiner, she decided to figure out what she missed. "So, what's on the agenda? More mass genocide or the fact that you managed to bang that red-head at the bar?"

Sensing the hostility in Annie's words, Reiner decided to not let them affect him, less he provoke her. His neck still hurt after the last time he did that. "We've decided that we're going to attack Trost. Same plan as Shiganshina, break the outer wall, let the Mindless Titans run amok, destroy the gate, slip in through all the chaos, and then infiltrate their government from within. Only difference is, that this time we won't have to wait three years to get anywhere. We'll already be a part of the Military Police."

Bertholdt seemed to nod along to this, agreeing with this plan to kill thousands. Annie snorted in disgust. "How can you say that so casually? I still have nightmares from my involvement from last time, and now that we have to do it again, you're perfectly fine with it? How?"

Reiner palmed his head as he seemed annoyed by Annie's comment. "We're doing what's necessary Annie, you know what's expected from us. We do this, secure the Founding Titan, then we go home. That was the mission. That's what we have to do. No questions asked."

Annie stood up in anger, glaring heavily at Reiner. "You make it sound like we're nothing more than tools. We may be Titan Shifters, but we're still human dammit. We can't be expected to kill countless thousands and then be ok later on. It's not right!"

It was then that Bertholdt, for the first time since Annie arrived, decided to speak up. "Does that mean you're out?"

This silenced both Annie and Reiner, as shock began to take hold. Neither had considered this as an outcome, so this new information shook them to their cores. But for very different reasons.

For Reiner, it was a threat. Annie's Titan was not the strongest by any means. In fact, looking at it logically, she was the weakest, lacking the armour or the size to be truly dangerous like his and Bertholdt's Tians. But she was the most skilled, being able to best their Titans with pure skill, making her a huge danger if she were to try and leave.

For Annie, it was an escape. It was a way to try and be free from the killing. While she could never repent for what has already occurred, she could say no to doing anything more. She could try and live a normal life, maybe even with Armin.

Despite slightly blushing at that last thought, Annie's eyes seemed to focus with determination. She would be a puppet for a government that didn't care no more. She would be free dammit.

"Yeah, actually. I'm out."

As Annie tried to turn away, Reiner grabbed her arm, forcing her to turn back to him.

"Don't try and walk away from this. You know what we're going to do, and if you try and stop us, we will kill you."

In response, Annie flicked her hand, causing the spike in her ring to jut out. Staring Reiner clean in his eyes, Annie growled out, "I am not afraid of you, or your Titan. We both know you're only here because of Marcel. You were never meant to get that Titan, and I'm much more dangerous than you."

Not wanting to risk a Titan confrontation so close to a military position, Reiner let go, deciding to back off. Convinced that he wasn't going to try anything, Annie lowered her arm, allowing the spike on her ring to slip back into place.

"You don't have to worry about me getting in your way. I'll be looking out for myself more than anything. When you attack Trost, I'll be making sure my _friends_ survive, and when we get to Wall Rose, I'll be starting my new life with them. You won't have to worry about me. Just get the Founding Titan and leave."

And with that, Annie turned from the duo, making her way back to the other Cadets, who were preparing for the long trip to Trost.

As she left, Reiner sat down next to Bertholdt and put his head in his hands. Bertholdt began to pat his back, knowing that he was stressed out and trying to avoid him slipping personas again.

"It's ok Reiner, we can do this. This isn't the end of the mission. You heard her, she isn't going to stop us. We'll destroy Trost, get the Founding Titan, and go home. Right?" Bertholdt soothed.

With this, Reiner looked up again, seemingly much calmer after taking a minute to breathe. "Right. We'll kill every Eldian who tries to stop us. Starting with Trost."

* * *

 **Mid-Summer, 850 – 2 days after the Graduation Party**

Eren began to stretch his arms as he exited the carriage. The cadets of the 104th just spent the last two days travelling from the Training Facility they called home for the last three years to Trost, where they'd be positioned for about a week before they decided on which Regiment they wanted to join.

Not that there was any doubt in Eren's mind of what Regiment he was going to join, with the Scouting Regiment calling him ever since he knew what they were. The idea of travelling beyond the walls was too appealing to him.

Mikasa was just getting out of the carriage now, relishing the chance to stretch her legs. That, and she was looking forward to spending some time in Trost.

Trost was very much like Shiganshina, just much cleaner and with bigger buildings. While still somewhat alien to her, it was much more similar to her than the Training Facility was. She was going to enjoy very much being here for a few days.

"Hey Mikasa, over here!"

Oh, never mind. Jean's here.

Turning to look him in the eyes as he ran towards her, Mikasa deadpanned "What do you want Jean?"

Jean took a moment to reply, taking a moment to catch his breath before responding. "I was just wondering if you wanted to catch a drink sometime. I've heard they do some really nice home-made cider round these parts."

Sighing at the desperate attempt to earn her affection, she turned away from him. "Not interested Jean."

Angry at how she had dismissed him so casually, yet again, Jean decided to step after her. "Hey, I wasn't done talking to you."

But as soon as he went to follow her, he found his path blocked by Eren, who looked pissed. Which wasn't exactly new.

"Back off Jean, she said she's not interested." Eren barked, fists already clenched as he prepared for a fight.

"I'm not interested in you, freak. I'm speaking to Mikasa." Jean retorted, also getting ready for a fight.

As Mikasa turned around to stop Eren from throwing a punch, a loud * **CRACK!*** sounded out, accompanied by a bright flash just outside the walls. Everyone stopped what they were doing as they turned to where the flash had just appeared from. Everyone had their breaths held as they looked to see what the cause of the flash was. But no-one was as afraid as the Shiganshina trio, who have seen this flash before.

"Oh no. Not again" Eren slowly muttered.

At this sight that she has unfortunately seen before, Mikasa was nearly brought to tears. She remembers what happened the last time this happened. She couldn't let it happen again. Not to Eren.

Armin, who had been waking up from a nap, was now fully on edge. 'There's no way. It can't be here.'

Annie, who had been eating her breakfast, was in complete shock. 'They didn't wait at all. The pair of idiots!'

Eren, now focusing completely on the wall, was grinding his teeth together, rage boiling through his veins. It was back.

The Colossal Titan.

"We meet again at last, you bastard. I finally get my chance to kill you, once, AND FOR ALL!"

And with that, the gate exploded as the Colossal Titan kicked it in, beginning the Defence of Trost.


	3. Chapter 3

**Companions to the End Chapter 3**

 **Mid-Summer, 850 – The Attack on Trost**

Things happened pretty quickly after the appearance of the Colossal Titan.

After the gates where completely smashed, Titans began flooding in, dozens of giant man-eating monstrosities that mimicked and mocked the human form, all with one desire: to devour whoever they came across.

The Garrison was able to hold them off temporarily, their use of nearly a dozen cannons set up near the gate able to buy the rest of the military a few minutes. But only, a few minutes. Because not even five minutes later, they had to either abandon their position (and most likely get caught and eaten), or be eaten on the spot.

It was all so hectic for Eren to keep up with. The moment the gate had been breached, the 104th had been summoned to the barracks, to allow them to gear up and be debriefed on their objective for this mission.

As Eren was fumbling with the straps on his ODM gear that went around his legs, Mikasa walked into the room carrying two pairs of gas cannisters for their ODM gears, presumably for her and him.

Placing them down near where he was sitting, Mikasa bent down and slapped away Eren's hands.

"Let me do it, it takes you too long to do it."

"I can do it myself Mikasa!" Eren yelled back, not appreciating how she had basically said he was being inefficient. He was going to be the one who slaughtered all the Titans and helped to free humanity, he could handle a few fucking straps.

At this Mikasa sighed, looking up to glare at him.

"I know you can, I'm not saying you can't. But the fact is, I can do the straps quicker than you, so I'm going to do them. If you want to be helpful, prep the cannisters, you seem to have a knack for doing those quickly." And with that, she bent her head down and continued sorting Eren's straps.

This seemed to placate Eren, as he realised what Mikasa was doing.

'She's not putting me down, she's being efficient. We're more efficient if we split the tasks into what we're good for. She's not trying to show you up'.

After mentally reassuring himself that he wasn't being mocked, he set to work sorting out the cannisters for his and Mikasa's gears. She was right, afterall. While he did always struggle with the fiddly parts of the gear, like the straps, he was very good with the parts that needed a bit of force to sort out. The cannisters were a prime example of this, with the cannisters needing their lids tighten to an extreme before they were connected to the gear, lest the pressurised gas escape and leave the soldier in question dry in the air.

After sorting both sets of cannisters out and placing them back down next to him, he took a deep breath before turning back to Mikasa.

"Hey Mikasa, I'm sorry."

At this Mikasa looked up at him, brow raised slightly in confusion. While they were on much better terms than they were shortly after the fall of Shiganshina, it still normally took a lot of coaxing from Armin to get Eren to apologise, yet here he was doing it of his own free will.

"What for?" She said dumbly, though deliberately as she tried to coax Eren into explaining his surprising calm nature today. She figured today of all days (the day when he'd see the Colossal Titan again) would be especially bad for him, yet here he was trying to collect himself. She wanted to find out what was going on in his head.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you. It was uncalled for. I know you're just trying to help. Its just, seeing that Colossal bastard again has me on edge, and I trying to keep calm but I'm like this close," he placed two fingers incredibly close together, with maybe a hairs space between them, "to losing my shit, and I shouldn't let you be my outlet. Not when you have just as much reason to be as angry as me."

Despite not explaining further, Mikasa didn't need him to. She understood fully. The last time the Colossal Titan had struck, Eren's mother, the women who took her in when she had nowhere else to go, had been eating by the Smiling Titan. And it was one of the worst days of her life. To lose not only her parents and Carla had been hard on Mikasa, even if she tried to hide it for Eren's sake.

But it would seem that Eren was _as_ dense as people thought he was, noticing at the very least her controlled rage over the death of his mother. The fact that he was being mindful of her feelings was a big development for Eren, even if he still had a long way to go before he could be considered 'stable'.

A small smile graced her face, appreciating his effort to try and be calm for her sake, even if it isn't necessary.

"It's ok Eren, we'll get through this. We'll survive this attack, we'll find the Colossal and Armoured Titan, kill them both, and then us two and Armin will finally go and see the ocean. Like we always said we would, right?" Mikasa coaxed, letting her defences down just a little bit around Eren.

He was always the one she could open up to, even if he was a pain in her ass sometimes. He was the one who saved her all those years ago, and he was the one that wrapped the scarf she still wore to this day around her neck. While he had the emotions of a bull, he could be very caring when he wanted to be. Like when she started having nightmares about Carla's death.

Mikasa had been freakishly strong for her age ever since the incident with her parents. She couldn't explain it, but she had retained the superhuman like strength that she used to stab the third kidnapper through the heart. She had never questioned it however, and assumed it would be enough to help her protect the people she cared about, primarily Eren.

But that day, when Carla was pinned under the rubble of her own home, her strength had been useless. No matter how freakishly strong she was, she was still only a child, and wasn't capable of saving her. When Hannes had dragged her and Eren away, to allow them to escape while Carla was eaten, Mikasa had blamed herself.

It haunted her for a while, the guilt weighing heavily on her conscience. She had several nightmares where Carla, and sometimes even her parents, would come and haunt her, questioning why she didn't save them, why she didn't try harder to do something. This began affecting her sleep pattern, which was how Eren noticed something was wrong.

When Eren found out that Mikasa blamed herself for what happened to his mum, instead of exploding in her face, demanding to know why she felt like she should shoulder the blame when he was the one who should be blamed, all he did was hug her. That's it, just a quiet, simple hug.

No words were exchanged, no deep discussions were had, and no one played the blame-game. He just embraced her and let the action speak for itself. It's safe to say that Mikasa didn't have any more nightmares after that.

Through they are rare, these moments are what remind Mikasa of the little boy who was willing to risk his life, and wilfully kill another human being, just to protect her. These moments reminded her of the boy she had slowly been growing a crush on.

But now wasn't the time for that, they had Titans to deal with. A lot of Titans by the sound of it.

Nodding his agreement, Eren began pumping himself up, like he normally would whenever the discussion of Titans came up.

"Yeah, we'll kill them all. You and me, side-by-side. We'll slaughter them all!"

Chuckling at his usual outburst of Titan-slaying bravado, she just nudged him as she stood up, walking to the courtyard where they'll be getting their orders. Realisation dawned on Eren's face as he suddenly remembered that they hadn't been given orders, and quickly jogged to catch up to Mikasa.

The battle was about to begin.

* * *

Reiner was waiting just outside the barracks, claiming that he needed air before the briefing, but was actually waiting for Bertholdt. If the two of them were to avoid any suspicion, they both needed to be present for the briefing, or the entire plan could go to shit.

At this, Reiner growled to himself. He hated remembering that it was only the two of them now.

'That fucking bitch left us, and I can't even do anything about it. I'll make her pay for his insubordination.' He thought to himself, still seething at how Annie had betrayed them.

While he wasn't worried about her revealing their secrets to the Eldians, even she wasn't that stupid, the fact that they were now **two** Titan Shifters down was beginning to put him on edge.

The loss of Marcel and the Jaws Titan was bad enough, but now they had lost Annie and the Female Titan? They needed to come back either with them in chains, the Founding Titan or with the Eldians completely wiped out. Or their mission would have been a failure.

And Reiner was not about to fail his mission. Not while he still drew breath.

It was then that Bertholdt suddenly jetted in, his stolen ODM gear allowing him to come from above.

"Hey, everything ok?"

"What took you so long? I've been talking so much shit in the last hour that my mouth is gonna stink for a week!" Reiner hissed, annoyed at how relaxed Bertholdt was. Did he not realise what was at stake?

Raising his hands in a calming gesture, Bertholdt retorted. "Easy, I had to take the long way, or else I would have been caught by the garrison. Don't want them catching onto us, do we?"

Seeing the sense in his words, Reiner calmed down. "Ok, right. Good. Got to stay unnoticed. Good thinking."

Seeing how stressed Reiner was, Bertholdt slung his arm around his friend's back, his only friend now.

"Listen, we're in the clear now. The Mindless Titans are pouring in now, and all we have to do is survive long enough for the retreat to be sounded. When that happens, we'll be in the clear. We just slip in with the other survivors, wait for everything to calm down. Join the military police, and use our newfound authority to nose around. And once we find the Founding Titan, we can finish the final Wall and go home. Right?"

Breathing in and out a few more times, Reiner began nodding his head in agreement.

"Yeah, you're right. We're good. Ok, we should probably get back to the briefing now, we don't want anyone to get suspicious."

"Sweet. And by the way, what did you say to people who were asking for me."

"I told them you had the runs."

While Bertholdt began choking on his spit at Reiner's nonchalant mentioning of his cover for him, they failed to notice a tall, dark haired girl who was hiding just around the corner.

Scratching her freckle covered cheek, Ymir decided to head back before they spotted her, taking in this new information and trying to make sense of it.

"So, I'm not the only one in the 104th. I need to be careful from now on if that's the case." And with that, she began jogging, wanting to be back at the barracks before the two boys made it.

* * *

Eren was angry. No, he was furious.

They had just finished being debriefed by the local commander, and they had been informed that the Colossal Titan had disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, just like last time.

The coward had run before they could even get a chance to fight back! Something which annoyed the ever living shit out of Eren.

Glossing over this, he headed over to his squad, consisting of himself, Armin, Thomas, and two others he didn't know. A five-man squad to patrol the streets and take out any Titan that they came across.

However, as he neared his assigned squad, he couldn't help but notice a brief flash of red as he looked over the people in the local area. Sighing as he figured out who it was, he finished his trek over to his squad.

"Mikasa, what the hell are you doing here? This isn't your squad." Eren couldn't help but allow the annoyance to seep into his voice. As much as he and Mikasa had shared a moment earlier, he wasn't in the mood for her babying him right now.

"I requested that I be in your squad, I'd feel better knowing that I can watch your back."

"You did what?" Eren was starting to lose his patience. "What do you mean you requested that you change squad? How did you manage that?"

"Simple, I pointed out that I work best when fighting alongside you. They want us to fight at our best, my record shows that my performance peeks when working with you, so they agreed. I'm now a part of your squad. This was the smart thing to do."

Before Eren could explode at Mikasa for going so out of her way just to allow her to baby him, Armin stepped in, as always being the mediator in their trio.

"She has a point, both of you do better when fighting together. You just keep pushing yourselves past what is healthy."

Breathing heavily from his near-outburst, Eren thought this over. He was telling the truth. Whenever they were paired together or in the same squad while training, he did push himself harder to keep up with her, though that typically led to him getting frustrated when she topped even her own best scores. Looking back now, he realised it was because she was pushing herself just as hard.

Nodding to himself, he looked up at Mikasa. "Right, it makes sense. We work well together. We can kill more Titans that way. Don't try and get in my way though, you won't be able to stop me."

Signalling to show she understood, she began acquainting herself with the rest of her squad, though it was more for politeness than for efficiency. While they may have been assigned together, she wasn't that concerned with whether or not they lived or died. Her main concern was Armin and Eren, especially Eren. She would make sure they all made it out of this alive if it killed her.

Although, that didn't mean she planned to lie down and accept her fate. She was going to fight, just like Eren told her too when they first met. And fight she will.


	4. Chapter 4

**Companions to the End Chapter 4**

 **Mid-Summer, 850 – The Attack on Trost 2**

Ymir was running on autopilot, too lost in thought to be focusing on the events on hand.

She and her squad, consisting of herself, Christa, Sasha, and two other people (a guy and a girl, who seemed very chummy with each other) that she didn't know, were busying launching themselves from building to building with their ODM gears, on the hunt. Their squad, along with most of the 104th, had been tasked with containment, spreading out across Trost, and taking down any Titan that they saw.

Ymir had felt that it was a waste of time when they were given the order, and that they were just buying time at best, or being sent to their deaths at worst (which was realistically the most probable outcome). So long as the main gate into Trost was still open, curtesy of the Colossal Titan, they would just be delaying the inevitable.

Speaking of the Colossal Titan, Ymir was deep in thought over her latest discovery. Bertholdt was the Colossal Titan, and with how he was talking to Reiner, chances were that he was Armoured Titan.

Which was a huge revelation for Ymir.

For one, it meant that they were responsible for the fall of Wall Maria and the deaths of several thousands of innocents (including the Yeager boy's mother, if the tales that had been passed around the barracks held any truth). For another, it meant she wasn't the only Titan Shifter in Trost.

This was worrisome for Ymir, because she was now wondering what they were doing here. Were they here for her? Were they here to simply destroy the Eldians? Were they here for something else entirely? She didn't know, and that worried her.

If they were here for her, she'd have to be on her guard. While she was confident that she could take them in human form, if they attacked her with their Titans then she'd be in trouble, especially given their location. While her Titan was quick and agile no matter what, the ideal location for her Titan to fight in would be the various forests that existed outside the walls, the massive trees allowing her to swing and jump around to the fullest extent that her form allowed. This would allow her to tear apart most Titans, and in a fight against another Shifter, she'd have the advantage.

But here, in the town? She didn't have the same kind of advantage, in fact, it played right into their hands. Reiner's sheer durability would allow him to outlast her and then rip her apart, and Bertholdt's size would allow him to crush anything that she could use to try and propel herself to his nape. If they were so inclined, they'd kill her with next to no difficulty.

So, for now, she had to play it carefully, wait for them to mess up. They were clearly trying to avoid being noticed, with the amount of secrecy they were displaying earlier being proof of that. But that was what clued Ymir in, their sudden disappearances during their training days made her suspicious of them hiding something. She had only just found out what it was they hiding, and now she couldn't be gladder that she trusted her suspicions (she was also semi-convinced that Annie was somehow involved, but the fact that neither Bertholdt or Reiner mentioned her in their plans made her question this theory).

With this knowledge at hand, Ymir now knew what she had to do to secure what she wanted, and right now, her priority was Christa. The tiny blonde had somehow managed to worm her way into Ymir's heart, despite Ymir's attempts to stay isolated. The fact that Ymir knew of her past as an exile from her family, only made her more sympathetic towards her: which she found quite annoying. Nevertheless, she found herself caring for someone else for once in her life, and she had to make sure she survived.

She also kind of wanted Sasha to survive, more so because she found Sasha incredibly entertaining than because she actually cared for her.

She was only barely aware of how one of the other people in her five-man squad called out two Titans in the distance, and how they were going to engage. She had to find a way to get out of this mess, one that didn't involve her dying.

She didn't go to all this trouble just to die a meaningless death in this shithole of a town.

* * *

Reiner had found a way to spite Annie.

While he wasn't stupid enough to try and take her on head-on, especially not without his Titan form, he knew he could still get back at her indirectly. Despite knowing what she was meant to do, and even despite what she had already done, she had grown attached to many members in their training squad, given him the perfect targets for his revenge.

For she had betrayed them, and traitors must be punished.

He and Bertholdt were currently in a squad along with Marco and two others. Reiner wasn't that concerned about the other two, they were just tiny obstacles in his path, the main objective was Marco.

Annie had grown close to a lot more people than she let on. While most could deduce that she had indeed grown close to the Shiganshina trio of Eren, Mikasa, and Armin (who Reiner was currently contemplating whether he could go after to inflict more pain onto Annie), what most who didn't know her truly well would miss is that she had grown close to several others in more subtler ways. She had grown fond of Sasha's eating habits, and Connie's silly attitude, both being things that made her smile internally. She had grown fond of Ymir and Christa, and had secretly began pairing them together when they weren't around. Reiner still remembers her threat of disembowelment when he found out about that.

But the one he was interested in right now was Marco, who Annie had grown fond of because of his natural kindness to everyone around him. When the people she knew on a personal level was either insane (which consisted of her new friends in the 104th) or a murderer (like him and Bertholdt), the idea of a genuine nice person was something that Annie would genuinely cherish.

So, Reiner was going to take that away from her.

He had it planned out already, and Bertholdt, as reluctant as he was, had agreed to help. The first group of Titans they saw, they'd turn and rip the ODM gears from the three other members of their team and leave them to get eaten.

Which was exactly what they were in the process of doing.

They had seen a duo of Titans a couple of streets down, and they were currently flying through the street towards them. Reiner had his blades drawn, ready to act on his plan. As they all congregated on a nearby rooftop, Reiner began mentally preparing himself.

He had to do this. She had to learn that her actions had consequences.

As he began stalking over to the other three, with Bertholdt also beginning to draw his blades, one of the other two members of their little team was busy making a plan of attack.

"All right, here's the plan, we're going to dart past them and get them to expose their napes. When they turn, you two will attack and take them down. That leaves a person on lookout for other Titans. Any questions?"

Reiner couldn't help but let a smirk loose at this. They were playing right into their hands. All he needed to do was exploit it even further.

"That sounds good, me and Marco will attack the napes. Bertholdt can keep an eye out, with you two being the bait." Reiner had to force himself to keep calm, and to not let a predator like tone seep into his voice as he spoke.

Nodding, the other two members of the squad nodded, and then turned and jumped off the roof, starting what they thought was a thought-out, strategic strike. They never expected that they were jumping to their deaths.

Marco began tensing his body up, preparing to launch his hooks to start his attack, when suddenly, with nothing but a brief flash to give him a clue as to what happened, his ODM gear was torn apart, damaged beyond repair.

Turning in shock, all he saw before being knocked out was Reiner, with a predatory grin, throwing a powerful right hook, and then he saw black.

Reiner was feeling pretty satisfied with himself. Marco was out cold, his gear was disabled, and even now he could hear the screams of the other two members as the two Titans that they were supposed to wipe out devoured them.

Bertholdt walked up behind Reiner, shaking his head. He didn't _disagree_ with this plan, Annie needed to be sent a message telling her that they weren't to be messed with, but was this really necessary?

"So, what now Reiner?"

"Easy, we leave him. Those Titans will eat him in a moment, and any trace of our betrayal will be covered. Simple." Reiner stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"And then what? We were supposed to keep our heads down until this attack blew over, and now we're killing people just out of spite. We're being reckless!" Bertholdt began shouting, clearing not liking this situation he was put in.

Sighing, Reiner turned back to Bertholdt, with pity in his eyes. "I know, but we had to send her a message. We both know that if she were to change her mind, she could out us to the military. And then everything we've done, all the terrible things we've done in the name of our mission, would have been for nothing. I will not let that BITCH ruin all our hard work!"

Beginning to calm down, Bertholdt took a breath before nodding in agreement. "Right, sorry. That makes sense. Sorry."

Smiling slightly to show he was forgiven, Reiner patted him on the back. "Good. Let's get the fuck outta here."

And with that, the two of them jetted off, planning to ride out the rest of this attack. Afterall, the storm will pass. They always do.

However, little did they know, the **real** storm hadn't even arrived. It was brewing just around the corner, and now everything was about to change. Nothing, would ever, be the same again.

* * *

"Mikasa, there's one on your left!"

Eren and his squad was in the middle of attacking a pair of Titans, carrying out their orders. They had been instructed to take out any Titans that they came across in an attempt to buy time for people to get out. The more Titans they killed, the less Titans can go after the evacuees. This meant that less people would end up suffering like his mom did, which was more than enough to motivate Eren.

So far, his squad has been on fire. Thanks to Mikasa's inclusion to the team, Eren had been pushing himself much harder than he normally would, not wanting to be shown up in her presence. This stubborn determination had motivated the rest of the squad to keep pushing themselves harder as well, leading to them being at their best. This meant that they had been performing far above expectations.

So far, as a squad, they had dealt with four Titans, with Mikasa taking out two, Thomas taking out one, and the guy who they didn't know beforehand (whose name was Michael) had taken out the last one.

While Eren was internally angry at the fact he had yet to make his first Titan kill, he was actually grateful for Mikasa's presence. As much as he would say that she annoyed him, which was somewhat true, he appreciated knowing she had his back. Out of everyone he knew, he only really trusted Mikasa to have his back without fail. Armin, as loyal a friend as he is, was not a fighter. Chances were if a fight broke out, Armin would be the one that needed protecting, never mind backing. He did somewhat trust Annie to have his back, she was certainly skilled enough to fight anyone off, be they Titan or human. But honestly, even Eren could tell that she was more interested in looking out for Armin (after discussing it with Mikasa, they had secretly agreed that she had an unspoken crush on their blonde friend, and they also agreed to never bring it up). And everyone else Eren knew he didn't trust nearly as much as Mikasa.

So with Mikasa watching his back, he did feel safer. That, and he just preferred having her in his sight. While she was no longer the defenceless little girl he rescued all those years ago, Eren had never lost his protective streak over her. It was the reason why he got so **angry** whenever Mikasa outshone him or looked out for him – it was supposed to be the other way around. He didn't really have an inferiority complex to her, he just wanted to make sure she was safe, something that couldn't happen if she was risking her neck for him constantly.

Now however, they could watch each other's backs, which while still difficult for Eren to accept because it still meant that she was risking her life, for him (something that did keep him up at night when he reflected on it), but was much better than the alternative. He knew he could trust her to watch his back, just as she knew he would watch hers. They would keep each other safe.

They would fight together, against anyone who tried to fight them.

As Thomas had finished off the first Titan, Mikasa flew over Eren's head, blades drawn and pulled back in a standard slashing motion. Using her bodyweight to generate motion, she flipped forward and slashed downwards, getting a clean strike on the Titan's nape. As the Titan fell to the ground, Eren and his squad began landing on various rooftops. As he and Armin landed on the same roof that Mikasa landed on after her strike, Thomas and Michael landed on a rooftop opposite. Walking over to Mikasa, Eren patted her back.

"Nice one Mikasa, that's three Titans dead cos of you. A good start to the day." And Eren genuinely meant it. With how much he hated Titans, anyone who killed one was doing a good job in his book.

Surprised by the compliment, Mikasa had to cover her face with her scarf to hide her blush.

Not noticing this, Eren turned to shout over to his teammates on the other roof.

"Oi! You two! We're gonna head north, its closer to the gate, so there'll be more Titans there!"

"Are you mad?! Our job is to buy time, not run into the heart of the horde!" Thomas shouted back, clearly not impressed with this turn of events.

As Eren went to shout back, a shadow passed over him, as a shape blocked out the sun. Turning to see what it was, he looked up to see a Titan body **flying** over him. Panicking at the sight, Eren let his instincts take over.

"Get down!" And as he shouted this, he tackled both Armin and Mikasa, taking them to the ground so that the Titan's flailing limbs didn't catch them.

As they dived out of the way, the Titan went clear past their building, and into the one that Thomas and Michael was standing on. They weren't as quick to react, and Michael perished instantly, as one of the Titan's limbs crushed him instantly, leaving only a blood smear on the now smashed roof. Thomas was right in line with its head, and as the Titan fell into the building, Thomas disappeared into the rubble.

Reacting quickly, Eren and Mikasa jumped to their feet, while Armin had to take a minute to collect himself before rising up as well. As they looked over the edge, they saw the Titan rise up from the rubble, and turned towards them.

With Thomas half-hanging out his mouth.

"Please… help"

And with those final words, the Titan swallowed him whole, ending his life there and then.

Enraged, Eren began grinding his teeth together, glaring at the Titan for all his worth. This was clearly an Abnormal Titan, the way it had launched itself over the buildings being proof of this. It was only about 10 meters tall, but it had a dopey look on his face, and that made Eren even angrier.

The abnormal then turned, seemingly content with its meal before walking off.

In disbelief over this, Eren could practically feel his blood pressure rising.

"WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!"

And with that, he launched himself off the roof after it, no longer caring about preserving his gas. This Titan had to die.

"Eren! Wait!" Eren barely registered Mikasa's worried shouts, his sense of rationality abandoning him in his rage.

"You bastard! You think you can eat Thomas and walk away from me! I'll kill you!"

But in his rage-induced attack, Eren had failed to take into account the fact that there were other Titans in the town. And the one that had just raised its head towards him.

Trying to move himself out of the way, Eren only succeeded in moving part of his body out of the Titan's path, with his left arm and leg getting caught in the Titan's mouth, being ripped off almost instantly.

Now feeling disbalanced, as well as an excruciating amount of pain, Eren lost control of his flight, crashing face first into a rooftop.

"EREN!" Mikasa screeched, distressed by Eren's intense injuries, launched herself into an attack, with Armin lingering back as the fear that had been setting in since the appearance of the Colossal Titan finally gripped his heart.

Eren was hurt, badly, and Mikasa knew it was up to her to save him. Eren had swallowed a bitter pill in his mind when he allowed Mikasa to join his squad, even she could tell that. But the fact that he had allowed her to without any major complaint was something she was not going to waste, especially not now that he was in serious danger. She would slaughter every Titan that tried to stop her from saving the boy she loved.

But that task seemed to be getting harder and harder, as more Titans had started to show up, all with the intent of devouring Eren. She launched herself at the first Titan who had attacked Eren, tearing through its nape with ease. Twisting in the air, she fired another hook into the nape of another nearby Titan, and then pulled herself into another kill.

As she tumbled from the kill, she flipped around and slashed at another Titan's outstretched hand, cleaving off several large fingers. They were swarming in, and she didn't know how

long she would last.

Before she hit the ground, she used a burst of gas to give her some height, and then propelled herself up behind a large 12-meter class Titan. But before she could finish that kill, a second Abnormal appeared and grabbed her.

As this was happening, a Titan with a grey beard and bald head had spotted Armin, who had frozen in fear and was completely helpless. The Titan seemed to decide that Armin was going to be its next meal, and began marching towards him.

Eren was watching all of this, and the guilt was beginning to set in.

'This is my fault, they're going to die because of me.' Eren realised, as he reflected on all of their decisions since the attack on Shiganshina.

He had dragged Mikasa and Armin into the army with him, taking them from the relative safety of civilian life and putting them in the dangerous position that the army was. Not only that, but they were going to follow him into the Survey Corps, the single most dangerous Regiment in the entire army. With every expedition, only 20% of the expedition team came back. And he was going to lead the two single most important people to joining it.

And now, here they were, about to die, because of him.

Eren felt especially guilty about Mikasa, who had suffered nothing but hardships since she met him. During their first meeting, she lost her parents and had to kill a man. Not even a year later, she had to suffer through the loss of his mother, someone who had treated her like a daughter. And then they had to suffer through years of starvation and homelessness as they waited till they reached the appropriate age to join the army.

And now, while watching out for his stupid arse, she was going to get eaten.

"No." Eren decided. No more will he just let life do as it pleased as it toyed with him and the people he cared about. No longer will he take it lying die.

"She does not die, today." He muttered, groaning through the pain that losing two of his limbs caused.

"I will not let her die." He muttered slightly louder this time, with pure determination taking hold. But as he slowly began pushing himself up, he failed to notice the crackling electricity that was starting to surround him.

"SHE WILL NOT DIE ON MY WATCH!" He then roared, before he saw a blinding flash of light, and then nothing.


	5. Chapter 5

**Companions to the End Chapter 5**

 **Mid-Summer, 850 – The Attack on Trost 3**

Mikasa was squirming for her life.

She had been caught by surprise by a Titan with incredibly long arms, and was now firmly in its grip. She only had one arm free and was trying her hardest to hack her way free. She had to escape this and save Eren.

While she couldn't currently see Eren, she had seen what had happened to him, and was freaking out. Eren had lost two of his limbs! She had to save him!

While she was struggling, she spotted Armin out of the corner of her eye, frozen on a nearby rooftop. And a Titan was currently making its way to eat him.

Now Mikasa had to save both Eren and Armin, but yet she didn't have the strength to save herself. Despite using as much of her insane strength that she had built up over the last three years to hack her way free. Yet while she did manage to take a finger off, the Titan's grip did not lessen, and began bringing her to its mouth.

Mikasa wasn't one to dwell on the past, she had experienced so much trauma in the past to learn that the only thing that mattered is the present, which is why she was so persistent with staying near Eren. Eren was the only good thing left in her life, the only person she genuinely cared about. While Armin was a good friend, he was nowhere near as close to her as Eren was. Eren was her surrogate family. Eren was the one who gave her purpose. Eren was the one that made her smile with his over-the-top antics. Eren was the one who had her back whenever someone tried to flirt with her. Eren was the one who held her heart.

As the Titan brought her above its mouth, ready to devour her whole, Mikasa only had regret: never telling Eren how she actually felt. Mikasa was a brave individual. She feared nothing and no one, and would intensely hurt anyone who wronged her. Once during training, someone had grabbed her arse in the mess hall, and she had responded by throwing him out the window. Even now, as she was in the very clutches of death, she was not afraid. But one thing that did instil fear into her was the idea of telling Eren how she actually felt.

But as she neared the Titans mouth and her inevitable death, she regretted letting her pathetic fear prevent her from telling Eren the truth, especially since she of all people knew that life was fleeting.

"I'm sorry Eren. I love you." She whispered to herself, accepting her fate and preparing herself for the end: and failing to notice the bright flash and strong gust of wind.

As the Titan loosened its grip on her, to drop her into its stomach, Mikasa closed her eyes, hoping that at the very least, she'd get to see her parents again.

However, before she landed in its mouth, she was caught in another fist, and was suddenly pulled away at intense speed.

Shocked by the sudden jerk of movement, Mikasa opened her eyes again and found herself in the fist of a different Titan. But as she looked up, she immediately noticed that this Titan was different from any Titan that they had seen before.

This Titan was quite tall, standing at roughly 15 meters tall, but unlike most Titans, it looked like a fighter. Most Titans were usually humanoid shaped but had some form of deformity, making it look more horrifying. Even the more normal looking ones had no discernible muscle definition. But this one had a toned body, the kind that many members of the recruits of the 104th had after three years of intense core body training.

And it would seem that this Titan was a fighter. Even now, while cradling her, it was in a defensive position, with its feet spread evenly apart, and the other fist was raised to the Titan's eye level and was clenched tightly, ready to strike at anyone that came close.

The Titan had long, messy hair, that seemed to cover its eyes. But even with the majority of its face covered, Mikasa could tell that it had a hunter's glare, darting from Titan to Titan, almost as if it was seizing them up.

And that was when Mikasa noticed the strangest thing about the Tian: it wasn't trying to hurt her. It wasn't holding her tight, or at least not tight enough to hurt her. It was holding her tightly enough to prevent her from falling from its grip, but it was almost gentle, like it was being protective. It also wasn't trying to eat her, instead just holding her closely to its chest.

Whatever this Titan was, it was unlike anything she had ever seen before.

The abnormal that had caught Mikasa previously had now noticed that its meal had been stolen from its grasp, and roared a challenge to the Titan currently holding her. In response, it struck out, smashing the Titan clean in the jaw with enough force to send it tumbling into a nearby building, something Mikasa could never have predicted.

Not content with having taken out that one Titan, the long-haired Titan spun on the balls of its feet, and smashed another Titan that had been standing behind it with a hammerfist strike. As this Titan was knocked flying, this 'attack' Titan (which was the only way that Mikasa could describe it) roared a loud, intense, shrieking roar, daring any to try and take its prize.

Not sure how to react to this Titan, Mikasa's thoughts drifted back to Eren and Armin. Twisting her head to where she had last seen him, she was surprised to see that, instead of an injured Eren on a rooftop, all that was there was the smashed ruins of a house, with Eren being nowhere to be seen.

Not sure what to take from this, she panicked and turned to check on Armin, only to see that the Titan had reached it and was about to grab him.

Not being able to do anything else, Mikasa yelled in desperation. "ARMIN!"

But to her shock, this enticed a reaction from her protective Titan, with the Titan suddenly turning into the direction of Armin and breaking out into a sprint. In the space of a few seconds, the Titan had travelled down the street in record time for a Titan, and had bodied the Titan reaching for Armin away, before springing back into a defensive stance.

This sudden appearance managed to break Armin's frozen mind, and brought him back to reality. And as he focused back in on reality, he was in shock to find that one of his closest friends was currently being held protectively by the same Titan that had just saved him.

When Armin didn't immediately respond, the Titan looked from Armin, to Mikasa, and then back to Armin, before nodding to itself. It then brought Mikasa to Armin and placed her on the roof.

Now being able to move, Mikasa scrambled to Armin, and began checking him for injuries. After making sure he was perfectly fine, just a little shell-shocked, she turned back to her saviour.

"Thank you. I don't know if you can understand me, but thank you." She crowed, not sure what else to do.

The Titan seem to shuffle uncomfortably in response to this, before crouching down to look Mikasa in the eye. And this was the moment when Mikasa pieced it together. When she figured out why this Titan had protected her. Why she had not panicked in its presence.

Everything made sense, when she saw the Titan's eyes.

"Eren?" Mikasa inquired, not quite believing what she was seeing.

The Titan in front of her had the same green eyes as Eren, the intensity yet caring nature that was buried deep within them clearly staring at her right now. She didn't know how it happened, and she couldn't explain how she knew, but as she looked this Titan in the eye, she knew it was him who had saved her, for the second time in her life.

Not being capable of responding verbally, the Titan nodded, and then reached forward and stroked Mikasa's hair with one of its, no, his, fingers, with each stroke being gentle despite the fact that they were nearly the size of her.

Suddenly, Eren/Titan pulled away, spinning on his feet and grabbing a Titan that had been trying to sneak up on him. Grabbing it by its hair, Eren yanked it with all its force and threw it down the street he had come from, bowling over another Titan that had been making its way towards them.

Immediately, Mikasa recognised what Eren was doing. On a subconscious level, at least, Eren was trying to protect her, just like he always did. But instead of exploding in a temper tantrum, he had turned into an embodiment of death, and was tearing apart anyone who tried to hurt her. It also explained why he had responded when she had shouted Armin: Eren was nearly as protective of Armin as he was of her.

"What the hell?"

Mikasa turned back to see Armin standing there, eyes wide and body rigid, not quite sure what he had just witnessed.

"Look, I can't explain it, but I'm confident that that is Eren, I'd bet my life on it."

At this, Armin's face shifted into an incredulous look, not being able to believe to what had just been suggested. The idea of a Titan that didn't want to kill humans was difficult enough to swallow, never mind the idea that it was one of his best friends.

"That's not possible Mikasa, I know you're hurting from losing him, but Eren is gone. It's as simple as that." Arming stated bluntly, being more confident than he normally would. As much as it hurt him to do so, someone had to break it to her.

And honestly, Mikasa respected that. She respected the fact that Armin knew her well enough to understand that while she would be in deep pain over the loss of Eren, that she would need a slap from reality to pull herself back together.

But this time, he was wrong. Eren was alive. And she could prove it.

"What do we need to do?" She questioned randomly, formulating a plan on the spot.

"I'm sorry?"

"What do we need to do to win this battle? There must be something we can do."

"Well, we don't have that much gas left, and from the look of things, the main barracks has been overrun by Titans. If we want to be able to win this, we need to take back the barracks, so we can refill our gas. Otherwise, we're nothing more than Titan food." Armin speculated, quickly running through all the possible ways that they could turn this battle around.

Nodding in agreement, Mikasa turned back towards where Eren had just finished ripping apart a group of a half dozen Titans, with Eren looking fairly pleased with himself. Or as pleased as a Titan could look.

"EREN!"

And with that, his attention was back on Mikasa, and he began walking back towards her.

"We need to take the barracks back, or we're not gonna win this battle. I need you to take out the Titans while me and Armin gather up reinforcements. Can you help us?"

Content with this plan, Eren nodded his agreement, before reaching out and suddenly grabbing both her and Armin, placing them on his shoulder before breaking out into a sprint.

Grabbing onto his hair, Armin was left in shock.

"You still think I'm wrong?" Mikasa asked smugly, before turning to try and spot any other soldiers, pulling together her and Armin's plan into action.

* * *

Annie was not having a good time.

She had been fighting for her life non-stop for the past hour, and she was exhausted. She and her squad had been sent to try and slow the tide pouring in from the hole in the wall that was made by that bastard Bertholdt, along with about a dozen other squads. And it had been a bloodbath.

While she had been performing admirably, securing herself seven kills, she had come close to death more times than she was comfortable with. More than once, the temptation to turn into her Titan and fight her way out nearly overcame her, but she managed to restrain herself. She didn't want to draw the attention of either Reiner or Bertholdt, who has managed to slip away in the chaos of the battle.

And now, she was running for her life. The rest of her team, and the majority of the teams that were sent with her, had been slaughtered. The few survivors had scattered, as morale dropped beyond the point of recovery.

And if that wasn't bad enough, she had managed to bump into Jean and Connie, who were now constantly filling her ears with their panicked shouting.

"Oh my god, we're gonna die."

"I can't die like this, not like this!"

"I have so much to live for, think of all the food I've yet to eat."

"I can't die without having kissed Mikasa, it's not right."

"I need to tell Sasha I love her. She's batshit crazy but that just makes her more appealing."

"Oh Mikasa, why did you have to choose that prick Eren over me? WHY?"

"Oi horse-face, shut your mouth! Mikasa didn't choose you because you're a whiney bitch, and yet you still try to argue that you're not a horse."

"Watch what you say baldie, or I'll make sure that the Titans never get the chance to kill you!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Shocked by the sudden outburst from Annie, both Jean and Connie both went silent as they landed on another rooftop.

With the stress of the battle and the stress of worrying about what Reiner and Bertholdt were going to do in retaliation for her abandoning them (and she wasn't stupid enough to believe that they weren't going to do anything), she decided to unleash her pent-up stress on these two idiots.

"We are being chased by several dozen Titans, and yet neither of you seem capable of shutting your mouths for ten seconds. We're nearly out of gas, we're nearly overwhelmed, and chances are we're going to die, but before we do, just please, for just a minute, let me have some peace and quiet, or is that too much to ask from you simpletons?"

Jean and Connie just kept their mouths shut, and nodded dumbly along. Annie had said more words to the pair of them just then than she had throughout the last three years of them knowing her. They did not want to piss her off. They wanted to live, even for a few minutes longer.

However, what all three of them had failed to realise is that the brief moment they had spent allowing Annie to blow off some steam, had given some Titans the chance to catch up with them.

And now they were in danger of being caught and eaten.

But before they were caught unawares by the flanking Titans, Eren stormed in, bodying one Titan in the side and sending it flying, and then booting a second Titan away, giving Annie and the others time to realise just what situation they were in.

However, they had yet to realise that Eren was helping them, and saw only another Titan.

"Shit! Move!" Jean exclaimed, aiming his ODM gear away and preparing to run for his life.

But before he could do that, out of the hair of this Titan, came a familiar face with blonde hair.

"Hey! Annie! Over here!"

Annie couldn't believe her eyes. Not only was there a Titan taking a martial arts stance in front of her, but her secret crush (which she'd kill you for if you suggested it in front of her) was now dangling out the hair of said Titan.

Even more surprisingly, Mikasa of all people suddenly sprung from the Titan's hair, gracefully flying towards them with her ODM gear.

When she landed in front of her, Annie was about to begin questioning her about what the hell was going on, when Mikasa raised her hand to Annie's mouth.

"I know you've got a lot of questions, and I don't blame you. But we've got a plan, and we need your help. If you agree to help us, we'll fill you in. But you have to promise that you'll keep this a secret, or I will kill you myself."

This caused Annie to raise an eyebrow. Mikasa wasn't exactly the friendliest person at the best of times, and when they first met Mikasa would commonly threaten to kill her after a sparring session with Eren. But they had since reached an understanding, and the only time Mikasa would ever threaten her was when she unnecessarily hurt Eren, which was never.

What would cause her to threaten her now?

Deciding that she trusted Mikasa, or at the very least Armin, who was now standing behind Mikasa with a solemn look on his face, she nodded her agreement, curious to hear what she had to say.

Satisfied with this, Mikasa turned and pointed her sword first at the barracks, and then at the Titan.

"We're going to take back the barracks, and we're going to turn the tide of this battle. We'll need your help. But don't worry, we've got him providing most of the muscle.

"And what exactly is the deal with that Titan?" Annie inquired, still incredibly concerned about the Titan that was clearly listening in on their conversation.

"That Titan, is Eren."


	6. Chapter 6

**Companions to the End Chapter 6**

 **Mid-Summer, 850 – The Attack on Trost 4**

Armin was running the numbers through his head.

Mikasa's plan was absolutely insane in premise but in actuality, it was strategically brilliant. With the Eren-Titan giving them muscle, they could retake the barracks and refill their gas cannisters, which would give them the chance to escape. However, even with the Eren-Titan helping them, they needed more soldiers, so he and Annie had taken Jean and Connie's gas and had left to search for more soldiers. If they could get some more numbers, they could take the barracks back and turn this shit-show of a battle around.

But Armin did have his doubts about the plan, as a lot of it involved variables that he didn't really trust. Like the Eren-Titan. Unlike Mikasa, Armin was completely sold on the idea that the Titan **was** Eren, or not entirely. When the Titan had appeared holding Mikasa, he had been on the verge of freaking out. But then the Titan began listening to her, even showing the same begrudging mannerisms that Eren would when Mikasa bossed him around. For crying out loud, the Titan had visibly gotten annoyed when Mikasa told him to carry Jean, but did it anyway with a huff of dissatisfaction: **exactly** how Eren would have done when he was forced to work with Jean in their training days.

But still, the idea that Eren, his best friend and one of the few people that Armin trusted wholeheartedly, was a Titan was something that his rationale mind would not accept. Even now, as he soared in the air, all he could focus on was trying to think of ANY other reason for why the Titan listened to them.

But it was starting to get to him, as he began to see spots in his vision and his grip on his ODM triggers began to loosen. Before he knew it, he was dropping out of the sky, and plummeting to the floor. But before he could crash against the cold, hard concrete, he felt a tug on his side and suddenly he was moving towards a rooftop. It would seem that Annie had noticed his plummet and had took action to save him.

As he landed on the rooftop, Armin began to breathe raggedly, taking in multiple sloppy breaths that didn't satisfy his need for oxygen, and proceeded to make Armin freak out more.

He couldn't deal with this! His best friend was either dead or a Titan! And the worst part was that he couldn't even tell which would be worse! Either his friend was dead and he'd never see him again, or he was now living as a Tian; the very thing that he had sworn to kill for the past five years. This was too much.

That was when he heard Annie shouting his name, even though it was mostly drowned out by a high pitch whine that seemed to block out most sounds. But he had to listen to Annie, so he used what little willpower he had left to focus on what Annie was saying, which thankfully worked as the high pitch whine began dying down.

"Armin? Armin?! Are you ok? Answer me Armin!"

To Armin's surprise, Annie sounded panicked, which was a huge step away from her cool and collected attitude that she normally had. Either this battle was seriously getting to her, or she was extremely worried about him. On the off chance that it was the second one, Armin decided to try and dissuade her worries to the best of his abilities.

Even though he just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry.

"I'm, I'm, I'm fine, just a little, freaked out. This, hasn't been, my best day." Armin tried to joke, even though he was still taking lots of quick, shallow breaths.

Not convinced, Annie shook her head and started frowning at him.

'At least that looks more natural for her than scared.' Armin briefly thought, congratulating himself on at least getting her to stop panicking.

"Don't lie to me Arlert, you're a terrible liar. What's wrong?"

Feeling a little reassured by Annie's usual stoic attitude, Armin began to calm down a little bit. After a minute of getting his breathing back to normal, he looked her in the eye and began explaining himself.

"Honestly, I'm just freaking out over the whole 'Eren is a Tian' thing. I mean, it can't be real can it? It just challenges everything we know about Titans, and now we have to rely on him just to survive, and that's if its even Eren, and what if it's not him and just a Titan that's trying to trick us and oh God, we're going to die."

As Armin began to break down again, he was brought back to earth by the resounding crack of Annie's hand smacking his face, not only shutting him up but actually distracting him from his worries as he clutched his cheek in pain. That fucking hurt!

"Armin, stop, I can't handle you freaking out again. If you freak out, I'm going to lose my cool and freak out as well, and then we're no good to anyone, are we?"

Armin could only raise an eyebrow at this. In the three years since they had first met, Annie had made a point of not opening up to people. The only way to tell if she had been affected by the events of life was if you knew what cues to look for, something Armin had picked up. If she was genuinely angry about something, she'd clench her fists so tight that they'd turn white. If she found something funny, she'd bite the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from laughing. If she was sad and needed to cry (since everyone needed to cry every now and again), she would hurt whoever upset her and storm out in what seemed to be an angry strut but was a tactical retreat to a private location where she could cry in peace.

So, to go from that, to straight up telling him that she was just as freaked out as he was made it that extra bit unsettling for him. She was meant to be the emotionally stoic and reliable one. If she weren't going to pull them together, who the hell was?

Realising that Armin was looking at her in minor shock, Annie began to laugh to herself. It came from the bottom of her stomach and was unrestrained, the type of laughing that she hadn't done in a long time.

"Alright, I know this is weird, but hear me out. I know more than I let on, have done for a while. I wasn't planning on telling you this, but I know for a fact that the Titan we saw earlier was Eren, and that he can turn back to normal."

Armin suddenly sprung forward, questions already building up on his lips when she silenced them with her finger.

"Let me finish. I have a lot to say, and not a lot of patience. So, I'll say it now, and then we're going to carry on with this mission, and once we've gotten out of this alive, **then** you can question me. Understood?"

Nodding along dumbly, more out of curiosity than understanding, Annie continued.

"I know that this will be hard for you to forgive me for, but I'm a traitor. Or I was. I've abandoned that cause. We know a lot about the Titans. I WILL tell you about the Titans, but when we have the time. I'm not helping them anymore, because I can't handle the killing. I just want to get away from the fighting."

At this point, Armin was in shock. The entire time he had been in the military, he had never considered the possibility of a traitor, least of all in his Cadet unit. I mean, who was she a traitor to exactly? They were fighting Titans, mindless creatures who didn't even technically have a side, so she surely couldn't be fighting on their side. So, who was she fighting for?

Either way, as much as Armin struggled to understand the implications of what it is Annie was saying, he nodded his understanding. Despite everything that Annie was implying, he trusted her to keep her word, and he also believed her when she said she wanted to stop fighting. Despite being a really talented fighter, being the 4th best fighter in the 104th Cadet regiment, she never enjoyed fighting. Every time they had sparring sessions, Annie would always be trying to stay out of sight and would simply loiter rather then get involved.

She always spoke the truth, at least to Armin. Armin knew that Annie was a terrible liar, and if she was trying to hide something, she would simply never talk about it. When she caught Sasha trying to steal food from the kitchen, and was asked about it, she simply kept her mouth shut and shrugged in indifference. In a similar situation where she genuinely doesn't know, she'd would be more verbal. So, the fact that she was actually telling Armin all of this meant she was telling the truth.

Glad to see that Armin wasn't questioning her (but not looking forward to later when he would undoubtedly grill her for information), Annie carried on.

"All you need to know is that there are some people in the world who can turn into a Titan at will. It's a power that is passed on, and Eren clearly has been given this power. I don't know who gave it to him or why, but the fact that he is listening to Mikasa means he's a Shifter and not a mindless one. Once we get a chance, I'll help Eren change back, but you have to keep this between us, understood?"

Armin nodded, while taking lots of deep breaths. This was INSANE! But he still believed her, even though she was coming out with some of the most bizarre stuff. His curiosity was taking advantage of him here, he wanted to know more.

Content with this, she simply nodded and stood up.

"Right, that's all you need to know for now. I'll tell you more once we're out of this shitstorm. Now let's go, we've got work to do."

And just like that, she jetted off, continuing the search for more soldiers to join them in their campaign to retake the barracks.

Not wanting to be left behind, Armin also took off with his ODM gear. He now had another reason to survive to the end of this battle, to find out the truth of the Titans. It turns out there was so much that he didn't know.

* * *

Mikasa was currently riding Eren's shoulder, storming to the barracks to scout it out.

While Armin and Annie had left to find more soldiers to give them support, she had left Jean and Connie at the meeting point for the other soldiers, so that they could convey the current plan to anyone who shows up (though it was partly because she didn't want to put up with Jean).

But because she couldn't be sure of how many soldiers were going to show up, she had to scout out the barracks and see how many Titans they had to deal with. Which brought her to now.

She was currently waiting for Eren to get close enough to the barracks for her to see and observe the situation. So, while she waited for that to happen, she was looking at Eren.

While at first, she had struggled to believe it, the more she looked at him, the more she couldn't be persuaded otherwise. This Titan was literally the embodiment of Eren as a Titan, with the crazed but caring eyes that he had whenever he talked about killing Titans, the long black hair which resembled his when he first woke up in the morning, and the absolute disdain that took over his body language every time he caught sight of a Titan. That, and the fighting stance that this Titan constantly took when it squared off with a Titan resembled that of Eren's, being the final nail in the coffin in Mikasa's mind that this had to be Eren.

But this only brought forward different questions forward, **why** was he a Titan? What led to this? Were there others who could do this? And most importantly, were there others who could do this too?

Drawn from her thoughts by the rumbling of her transport, she looked forward to observe the barracks. And it was worse then she could have imagined.

The Titans were swarming the barracks, with at least three dozen Titans trying to get in the building, and were tearing the building apart brick by brick.

'There must be people inside if they're that interested in the building.' Mikasa contemplated, trying to think of a way to deal with these odds. She then looked up at Eren, who was growling at the large herd of Titans.

"Eren, you think you can take that many?" Mikasa asked him, catching his attention.

Thinking it through, Eren eventually nodded, slamming his hands together in a confident gesture, before moving his finger between the two of them.

Smiling at the gesture, Mikasa nodded.

"Right, we can do it together, lets get the others and do this."

And with that, they turned and made their way back to the meeting point. They were going to take back the barracks, one way or another.


End file.
